Dementia patient at risk of being ‘starved to death’

An elderly woman with dementia who recently lost the ability to swallow but is otherwise healthy and sitting up “discussing recipes” has been discharged from hospital with a treatment plan which will involve her being “starved to death”, the High Court heard.

Having been told the 81-year-old woman has not eaten for 14 days, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, directed an urgent inquiry today into whether the proposed treatment is medically justifiable or if the woman should receive the normal treatment for her condition, PEG feeding via a tube into her stomach.

The woman’s GP had said in a letter to the hospital consultant involved that she, the GP, was “not comfortable ethically” with the proposed palliative care treatment, the judge noted.